Showcase w/ Review: Hush Little Baby by Suzanne Redfearn

If I stay, he will kill me. If I leave, he'll destroy Addie and Drew. 

Jillian Kane appears to have it all - a successful career, a gorgeous home, a loving husband, and two wonderful children. The reality behind closed doors is something else entirely. For nine years, she has hid the bruises and the truth of her abusive marriage in order to protect Addie and Drew, knowing, if she left, Gordon would destroy her-destroy them.

When, in an act of desperation, she flees, her worst nightmare is realized, and she finds herself on the run with her two young children, no money, and no plan. With Gordon in hot pursuit, there is only one inescapable certainty: No matter where she goes, he will find her. Kill her. And take her children.

A riveting page-turner, HUSH LITTLE BABY exposes the shame and terror of domestic violence as well as the disturbing role manipulation and sabotage can play in the high-stakes game of child custody. Suspenseful and unforgettably moving, it's a novel about the unbreakable bonds of family and the astounding, terrifying devotion of a mother's love.

This book is an intense page turner that will make you loose your breath and turn pages into the night!  Intense (I know I said that already, but dang...it was), suspensful and terrfying at times!  I am still a bit off balance after finishing this book!  I don't even really think I can find the words to express how I am feeling in a clear way.  This is one of those reads that you feel in your bones! A must read and a great book for book clubs! 4.5 stars

Born and raised on the east coast, Suzanne moved to California when she was fifteen. She currently lives in Laguna Beach with her husband, their two kids, a Cockapoo named Cooper, and a cat named Martha. They own a restaurant in town called Lumberyard, (LBLumberyard.com).

Prior to becoming an author, Suzanne was an architect specializing in residential and commercial design.

Q.  What inspires your writing?

A.  It varies. As an author you are always looking for ideas. Sometimes it can be a single word, other times it is an observation or a question. For Hush Little Baby, the story was inspired by a friend's difficult divorce. There was a lot of he said/she said, and it was impossible to know who was telling the truth. It made me realize the power one spouse has to destroy the other. The first four lines I wrote in my notebook were: marital sabotage, custody, good appears evil, evil appears good. And those ideas drove the story.

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being an writer?

A.  I go to sleep each night with my head full of ideas and I get to wake up every day and weave those ideas into stories. My favorite thing about being a published author is having others read what I've written and to hear their reactions, to know that my characters are alive in others' imaginations and that the story is out there in the world being enjoyed by others.

Q.  What is the toughest part of being an writer?

A.  Writing. It's kind of like working out, dragging yourself to the gym and doing the work is exhausting and painful, but it feels great when you're done and you know it's what you need to do to get results. When I sit down to write, I know my brain is going to be taxed and it's going to start off terrible and stay terrible for a long time until I figure out how to make it better. It's a slow, arduous process that's full of uncertainty and self-doubt, but then I'll discover a character or have a jolt of inspiration or the story will start to take shape, and like being able to fit into your favorite pair of jeans again, all the hard work and pain is forgotten because you accomplished something you're proud of and it all seems worth it.

Q.  If you could not be writer, what would you do/be?

A. I would love to be Jeff Probst or Phil Keoghan and travel the world in first-class accommodations waiting for reality contestants who are struggling to survive to show up so I can ask them how it's going. But since those jobs are already taken, I would most likely return to being an architect.

Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

A.  Blah, Blah, Blah

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

A.  The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)

Q.  Which character from ANY book are you most like?

A.  I don't know which character I am most like, but the character I would most like to be like is Dagny Taggart from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. She's one kick-ass confident woman who knows what she wants and goes after it.

Q.  What character from all of your book are you most like?

A.  I'm probably most like Michelle from Hush Little Baby. Jillian and I share some traits, but our personalities are very different.

Q.  Which book would you love to take a weekend vacation inside of?

A.  Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert except without the Pray part. I would love to eat my way through Italy then relax on an Indonesian beach with a gorgeous man.

Q.  What is your favorite season?

A.  Spring

Q.  What inspired your book cover(s)?  Or what is your favorite book cover and why?

A.  My favorite book covers are Ayn Rand's for The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, they are timeless, beautiful, and iconic.

Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your book.

A.  This is more an overall effect of having the book out there. Since Hush Little Baby is written first person, present tense, and because Jillian is an architect living in Laguna Beach with a son and a daughter, and since I am an architect living in Laguna Beach with a son and a daughter, many readers assume the novel is autobiographical. The problem with this is that Gordon, Jillian's husband, is a psychopath who beats his wife. My poor Husband! People come into our restaurant (where my husband works) and look at him like he's the devil. So I bought him a t-shirt that has a photo of the book on it and below it in large letters it says, "Fiction!"

Q.  Are you working on something new?

A.  My next novel is in the hands of my editor. It is another story about a mother protecting her children but in a very different context and with a very different protagonist.  

Q.  Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just stopping by?

A.  Thank you for stopping by. If you do read Hush Little Baby, please give me a shout out and let me know what you think. My favorite part of this journey is hearing from the readers. You can email me at suzanne@suzanneredfearn.com.